ap lit vocab pt 1

mr. ashley's AP lit class at pioneer (all poetry unit vocabulary)

diction

diction

choice of word used by a writer

connotation

suggested, additional meanings of a word

denotation

direct dictionary meaning of a word

tone

the speaker’s attitude toward the subject

symbol

a concrete object or person that represents an abstract idea

imagery

language of the physical senses that evokes sensory perception and adds clarity of description to an item/situation in a poem

metaphor

comparison of unlike objects who do share a similarity

allegory

an extended metaphor where events & characters represent specific abstract concepts—used to teach a specific moral lesson. (tortoise and the hare)

irony

a situation when what happens is the opposite of what is expected or should happen

point of view

perspective of the poem’s speaker and the angle from which narration is presented

rhythm

reoccurrence of stressed & unstressed syllables in poetry

eye Rhyme

words that look the same but don’t rhyme at all

end rhyme

identical sounds repeated at the ends of lines in proximity

internal rhyme

rhyming that occurs in the middle of a line

slant rhyme

words in the rhyming position that have similar, but not identical sounds

rhyme scheme

pattern of rhyme in a poem ABABA

Assonance

identical vowel sounds without identical consonant sounds ex. walk, halves

consonance

identical consonant sounds that surround differing vowel sounds in words in the rhyming positions ex. swim, seam

apostrophe

speaking to someone who isn’t there or an inanimate object

meter

the arrangement of rhythm into a pattern in a poem

accent (stress)

the emphasis in pronunciation given to certain syllables

metrical foot

one example of a stress or meter pattern

scansion

determine the meter of pattern

iamb

unstress, stress

trochee

stress, unstress

anapest

unstress, unstress, stress

dactyl

stress, unstress, unstress

spondee

stress, stress

pyrrhic

unstress, unstress

monometer

1 poetic foot

dimeter

2 poetic feet

trimeter

3 poetic feet

tetrameter

4 poetic feet

pentameter

5 poetic feet

hexameter

6 poetic feet

heptameter

7 poetic feet

octameter

8 poetic feet

blank verse

un-rhymed iambic pentameter

free verse

poetry without metrical pattern or rhyme

caesura

piece of punctuation that causes a break or pause in a line of poetry (, - ;)

enjambment

when one line of poetry smoothly moves into next without any pauses

end-stopped line

line of poetry that has punctuation at the end, causes pause in speech

stanza

isolated group of lines separate from other line

couplet

two lines that have the same rhyme

tercet

3 line stanza

quatrain

4 line stanza

quintet

5 line stanza

septet

7 line stanza

octave

8 line stanza

sonnet

a poem of fourteen lines using any of a number of formal rhyme schemes

Shakespearean (sonnet)

14 lines: 3 quatrains (provide problem), 1 couplet
rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg

petrarchan

Italian sonnet
abba abba (problem), cdcdcd (solution/comment)

villanelle

19 lines: 6 stanzas, 5 tercets + quatrain
repeats (1): line 1, 6, 12, 18
(2): line 3, 9, 15, 19
haunting echoes

sestina

39 lines: 6 sestet, 1 tercet (envoy)
no rhyme or meter restrictions
6 key end words switch place in each stanza

lyric

short poems in which the speaker relates emotion and thoughts

ode

poem written in honor of someone of something
-characterized by lofty feeling or expression

epigram

short, witty poem

elegy

a poem the commemorates/celebrates someone who has died

anaphora

repetition of words at the beginning of sentences/lines

metonymy

associated feature of something that represents that thing

sestet

6 line stanza